SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH POETRY
From around Balder, ail the Heroes went;
And left his body stretched upon the floor.
And on their golden chairs they sate again,
Beside the tables, in the hall of Heaven; 65
And before each the cooks who served them plac'd
New messes of the boar Serimner's flesh,
And the Valkyries crown'd their horns with mead.
So they, with pent-up hearts, and tearless eyes,
Wailing no more, in silence ate and drank, 7°
While Twilight fell, and sacred Night came on,
But the blind Hoder left the feasting Gods
In Odin's halls, and went through Asgard streets,
And past the haven where the Gods have moor'd
Their ships, and through the gate, beyond the wall; 75
Though sightless, yet his own mind led the God,
Down to the margin of the roaring sea
He came, and sadly went along the sand,
Between the waves and black o'erhanging clifTs
Where in and out the screaming seafowl fly; So
Until he came to where a gully breaks
Through the cliff-wall, and a fresh stream runs down
From the high moors behind, and meets the sea.
There, in the glen, Fensaler stands, the house
Of Frea, honour'd mother of the Gods, 8s
And shows its lighted windows to the main.
There he went up, and pass'd the open doors;
And in the hall he found those women old,
The prophetesses, who by rite eterne
On Frea's hearth feed high the sacred fire go
Both night and day; and by the inner wall
Upon her golden chair the Mother sate,
With folded hands, revolving things to come.
To her drew Hoder near, and spake, and said:—
"Mother, a child of bale thou bar'st in me! 95
257 II